Electro-Harmonix Bass Preacher Compression / Sustainer Pedal Reviews

Bought this for our bassists rig to reel in some spikes when recording. It's simple, effective, and at this price point what more can you ask for?

Needed a simple compressor to flatten out my bass for recordings. Was using a Peavey CEL2 and just could never get that dialed in right, too many options. Grabbed this pedal and yes sir good buy. It works, period. Easy to adjust as there are only 3 controls, level, sustain, and attack. And as an added plus the literature also states you can use this for a guitar as well so i have been using it for both and it works equally well for guitar. Gonna need another one i think.

The Preacher bass compressor is all I'd read about compressors and more. The settings are simple and user friendly and the results are amazing. I play professionally five to six times a month with my 50's through 70's classic cover rock, blues and country band in Arizona and the compression really made the staccato bass lines stand out more clearly and the medium setting on the attack I set it at really gave the bass that studio polish to every bass line I was used to when working as a salaried recording studio bass player in Phoenix. I like the smooth potentiometer controls on the volume and sustain and the solid steel construction which is really important when we "road" our gear all over every week subject to bumps and normal handling wear and tear. Sweetwater really shipped my unit quickly in two days so I could gig with it that weekend....much appreciated.!!! I highly recommend this compression pedal to any bass player.

Does exactly as advertised. Evens out tone. Gives the instrument a less annoying sound.

First off thanks Sweetwater!!! I'm used to getting next day shipments but I didn't think I'd get it on a Saturday!!! Pedal works great, no issues, and it works great for my setup!!! I was gonna get the Dyna Comp, but the switchable attack option sold me. I like it better than Boss's comp pedal!!!

First, I got my version used and since have seen a video describing a "broke" pedal because like mine the vol knob had to be all the way up to the right to be unity gain and the sustain knob had to be all to the left. INSIDE the pedal there is a gain adjustment you will need to set similar to other EH pedals. Get this set right will solve most noise or limited knob use issues. 2nd, is that rather than labeling the knob SUSTAIN it should simply say compression as in the more you turn to the right the greater compression is applied. 12/9 - 1/10 Med works for me. What I was hoping for was that the Sustain actually did what it said and controlled the RELEASE time so that you can do a slow slide down from 15th fret 4th string in Drop D all the way to the 1st and produce that smooth Sine wave effect. No matter the settings I can only get this to "Sustain" the slide down about 8 frets. My previous Comp did this but it died an no longer sold. That understood this pedal does a great job of leveling your sound for normal playing, set the switch to Fast if you slap and slow if you want the pick attack to make it through before it clamps.

Love, love, love this pedal. It took me a little time to learn how to use it. But man, it really sounds great! Sweetwater and my rep Ben, were awesome as always!! I am a long time customer and will be so for the rest of my life!

You can get a lot of different sounds and shapes from this pedal without it changing the tone of your bass. It gives a very clear and crisp sound no matter what style you are playing..The only downside is the battery doesn't last very long, so I bought a power cord..

a great inhanser for the bass,it gives the low end a great sound i like the punch it gives, thanks james.

Good pedal, helps sustain, a bit more noise than I'd lie

This pedal is not bad, but it cuts a lot volume unless I dial up the volume switch, and the volume adds too much gain for practice purposes, it could be wonderful in a mix, but I don't play with a band, so I cant really review it like that. My friend who plays bass for a pop rock band says he wants to play with it in the studio though. basically, if you'r friend tells you "you need a compressor pedal" sit and try some at a shop before you order one, if someone you know has a compressor, see if you can use it in your signal chain for a few days. I prefer my 25 dollar limiter/enhancer pedal I ordered from sweetwater to this because it is a much more subtle effect. I have only used this and the 25 dollar compressor pedal, thats why I suggest trying many pedals before you buy.

The volume knob works, otherwise I seriously didn't hear any other difference when turning it on and off and messing with attack switch and sustain knob. Sustain was absolutely nil and attack modes sounded all the same to me. Maybe it's just a short scale thing, but I searched around for an hour to find a configuration(basshead/pedal) where I noticed a difference, and as much as I wanted to justify the 100 bucks I spent on it and the power adapter, I'm simply not impressed

I have to say that I was a little disappointed when I received this pedal and immediately noticed the sticker on the bottom indicating that this unit may produce interference and must accept interference, etc... That made me realize it's a digital pedal and I was under the impression it was analog (Strike 1).
I like the small size of the pedal and the construction is good so that's a positive rating....however, when in my pedal chain this produces a lot of added noise (hiss). I realize compressors can do that as they do raise the noise floor of a signal but the noise this produces is noticeable and annoying.(Strike 2) It does level-out the bass signal in an okay way, adds some punch, and is surprisingly transparent, but it is noisy.
I have this placed immediately after my tuner and then to my Bass Big Muff, to my Chorus, and then out to my amp. I do like how it really makes the Big Muff sustain and sing, but it adds noise. I don't want to hassle with returning it so I will try messing with it more or see if there is someone who knows how to mod this. I really feel EH dropped the ball on this pedal!

Returning this pedal because I found it unusable. Even at moderate usage with both knobs at 12 o'clock there is noticeable noise which does not work for us.